Former Rovers boss Gary Bowyer has pulled off a great escape with Burton Albion to stay in League One.
The Brewers were nine points adrift when Bowyer took charge in December and that gap increased to 11 points in January.
But Burton have now secured safety with a game to go following their 1-1 draw against Wigan on Tuesday night.
Bowyer’s side were moments away from taking all three points after Rumarn Burrell’s opener but Ronan Darcy equalised in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
“I am immensely proud of the players and the staff,” said the former Rovers boss. “It is just incredible and such a young group as well to do what they have done.”
He added: “I said to the players about a month ago that if it took going down to the last second and the last kick of the last game, we would take that from where we were when we came in so to have done it with a game to spare is incredible.
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“Being honest, I was disappointed with our first half performance tonight. I thought we looked nervy, which was to be expected, and we just put a couple of demands on them at half time and I thought we saw a response.
“It was a poor, late goal we conceded but we will take that tonight. We knew once we got out of the bottom four a couple of weeks ago, that was the time we really had to work hard to make sure we stayed there, not accepting that we had done it.”
Burton’s survival confirmed relegation for Bristol Rovers and Crawley, joining Shrewsbury and Cambridge in the fourth tier next season.
The Brewers wrap up their league campaign this weekend when they head to the Valley to take on Charlton.
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